NHL lockout felt by all

There’s been no area of the professional hockey world that’s been unaffected by the NHL lockout. Agents have to find new homes for their clients. Team executives and coaches are looking for ways to stay productive. Prospects and fringe players have shuttled down to the AHL, hoping to impress for a chance when the lockout ends.

By Dan Cagen/Daily News staff

The Herald News, Fall River, MA

By Dan Cagen/Daily News staff

Posted Oct. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 7, 2012 at 7:04 AM

By Dan Cagen/Daily News staff

Posted Oct. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 7, 2012 at 7:04 AM

» Social News

This is supposed to be an easy time of the year for Matt Keator.

Normally, the Wellesley-based hockey agent will have the majority of his business completed in the summertime, when players switch teams with all the routine of a driver changing lanes.

Not this year.

The NHL lockout has pushed the hockey world into organized chaos. Players who would otherwise be competing side-by-side in an NHL training camp are instead signing up to play against one another in European leagues.

"This time of year, they’re all set, they’re ready to go," Keator said. "They’re gearing up for playing, so I kind of don’t hear as much from guys. Now it’s different because the world as we know it has been turned upside down in terms of not having a working agreement."

There’s been no area of the professional hockey world that’s been unaffected. Agents like Keator have to find new homes for their clients. Team executives and coaches are looking for ways to stay productive. Prospects and fringe players have shuttled down to the AHL, hoping to impress for a chance when the lockout ends.

The league may be locked out, but the action hasn’t stopped.

Behind-the-scenes work

The chaos could only be called organized because of the predictability of the lockout, the third one in less than 20 years. Keator, whose 15-deep NHL client list includes Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, started planning for this years ago.

"We knew there was a good chance there was going to be a work stoppage. It seems to be the trend of this regime," Keator said. "We just seem to get to the lockout stage, this is the third work stoppage we’ve had. I planned a bunch of years ahead, I made sure this summer guys were signed through this year so you’re weren’t dealing with negotiations the summer of a potential lockout."

With the lockout entering its fourth week and the first two weeks of the season — originally slated to begin Thursday with the Bruins visiting Philadelphia — already canceled, agents like Keator and Westwood-based Kent Hughes have been forced into overdrive.

First, they have to communicate with their clients and see if playing overseas is something they’d consider. If they do, then it’s about looking at options and getting in contact with their European counterparts to see what’s out there.

"We look at all different options," Keator said. "I’ve got agents who are doing some footwork for me in terms of talking to teams and getting contacts and everything else. My job’s really to provide everyone with different options."

Keator cites Chara, who decided last week to play for Prague of the KHL. Chara wasn’t sure at first if he wanted to play elsewhere, and if he did, how would he make his decision — money, location, level of play and playing situation all had to be considered.

Page 2 of 3 - Chara picked Prague based on his familiarity with the city and several players on the team, as well as its proximity to his native Slovakia.

Every factor has to be explored by the agent, which has made for a busy fall. Especially compared to a normal year.

"We’ll always have young players vying for spots or veteran guys trying to get spots, so we’re always somewhat busy," Hughes said, "but the month prior would be a little quieter."

Filling the time

It’s been the opposite for team executives and coaches, who have traded the crowded days of training camp for, well …

"(My wife’s) ready to kick me out of the house," Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said at the first day of Providence training camp last month. "I miss it. It's a real exciting time to see everybody competing for jobs, to see the fruits of their labor throughout the summer and what has transpired with each player. Yeah, I miss it and I hope to see it soon."

Spending time with the P-Bruins will be near the top of Chiarelli’s lockout to-do list, as well as getting out on the road scouting Bruins draft picks and prospects for future drafts.

"I don’t know if I’d call it an upside, but it’s a chance to do it," Chiarelli said. "In a normal year I would try to do that anyways, and sometimes you’ll see too much of guys and your assessment ends up becoming circular when you see them too much, so you’ve got to be careful with that."

Bruins coach Claude Julien was the head man in Montreal during the last lockout, when the 2004-05 season was lost. He tried to stay as involved as possible then, always getting ready for the games that never returned.

"I kept going into the office at least a couple days a week, do some minor preparation for your team," Julien said. "Tried to just go back and do what you can do just to make sure you don’t slip out of it as well. It served me well because if the season had started I would have been ready to go. At one point, just after the new year, they said they were done for the season, so like anyone else I shut it off."

Hoping to impress

Marlborough’s Bobby Butler is among the players who could have gotten a chance at an NHL job. Butler, bought out by the Senators over the summer, signed a two-way contract with the Devils because they presented the best opportunity to make the varsity roster.

But when the lockout struck, Butler was sent down to the AHL’s Albany Devils.

Page 3 of 3 - "Obviously it stinks for everyone that you can’t get a chance for the NHL camp," Butler said. "But it’s just something everyone’s going through and you’ve just got to deal with it."

If the lockout ends, there will likely be truncated training camps for NHL teams, who will have the ability to call up a select number of players from the AHL. With New Jersey’s coaching staff monitoring the AHL club, Butler could still get a chance at proving himself in an NHL camp.

"You just got to work at it and do well where you are, then hopefully they give you a chance," he said.

It’s a similar story in Providence, where players like Jordan Caron, Torey Krug, Jared Knight and Ryan Spooner would have participated in the Bruins’ main camp.

There’s a spot on Boston’s third line with Caron’s name written on it. For now, Caron is wearing the Spoked-P, waiting and wishing for the end of a lockout that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

"I want to play in the NHL and this is my third year — I want to jump on the top three lines and contribute," Caron said. "But there’s nothing I can do about it, so I’ll play (in Providence) and get ready."

Dan Cagen can be reached at 508-626-3848 or dcagen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanCagen.